Artificial Intelligence and Biotechnology

This week's Expert View piece, provided by  Amy Nick, chartered patent attorney at intellectual property firm  Mathys & Squire, examines developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are playing an increasingly influential role in the biotech space, driving the formation of new partnerships between the tech and healthcare industries. 

While big pharma is increasingly seeking collaborations with AI startups, major tech players such as Google, IBM and Microsoft are taking steps into the biotech space. A 2019 survey of pharmaceutical and biotech professionals by  ICON found that 80% of respondents were using, or planning to use, AI technologies.

AI has already begun to make an impact. FFood and Drug Administration approvals of AI algorithms have  increased exponentially over the past few years, and the AI healthcare market is predicted to reach  $6.6 billion by 2021.

The potential value of AI is already apparent in areas such as diagnostics, with  research suggesting that diagnostic algorithms can match the performance of human experts in detecting diseases from medical images. The use of AI in other areas is more speculative: no AI-designed drugs have been approved yet, and few have reached clinical trials.